Few seasons are as impressive to me as the fall, particularly for outdoor pursuits.Tell me one thing that’s not more fun in autumn and I’ll tell you why it can be. I was raised outdoors in Pennsylvania where everything blazes with color and the fall invigorates you. It still does that to me, even though I no longer live there. Everything in Pennsylvania is bigger and brighter in the autumn.

Camping has those wonderful warm dry days and the crisp cold nights that leave you free to camp wherever you like, with minimal insect invasions, while wrapping up in that thick sleeping bag you love so much and breathing what seems like cleaner air in a crisper world.

Hiking too is far more interesting and fun, since we’re not combatting the weather from summer and winter hasn’t yet set in. You needn’t carry along gallons of water, just a bottle will do, and the heat isn’t nearly as offensive as it is in the full summer, and again, the insects have by and large gone their way by October, so that you’re not troubled nearly so much by them. The leaves are falling in the northern aspects of the US, and entire hillsides as far as the eye can see are awash with multi colored trees, blazing scarlets, reds and golds.

Fall Fishing is nicer, with a warm sunny afternoon paving the way for the late afternoon strikes and minimal heat to beat down on your head as you wait for that one last bite of the day.

The water has begun to clear from summer silt, so your canoeing trip, or kayaking lends itself to a view of not only the gorgeous colors of the trees, but also beneath the water to see whats scurrying around.

Deer and wildlife are out in a wide array, fattening themselves on the acorns and residual corn so if you’re a photographer, you’re going to find that fall is the season when you’ll get the best nature pictures as well.

If you haven’t spent a lot of time outside this summer, hiding as some of us were from the oppressive heat and the seemingly endless storms, now that fall’s arrived, and the weather has begun to cool and take on the tones of the approaching winter, get out there and enjoy it.